Magical Hat: Episode 24
If you've seen my last post, you'll know that I discovered another expansion instance within Magical Hat - or rather, a revisit of sorts of the weight gain arc from Episodes 9 and 10.
Episode 24 is a bit of a recap episode, with the previous two-parter brought up and recounted, specifically Hat and Spin getting fat, their attempted escape and bounce all the way downstairs, and finally their failed exercising and chugging away so much water that only further fattened them up. Since I've already covered the two episodes in great detail, and the fact that there aren't any visual differences, I won't be showing screenshots of those.
However, that being said, there was a surprising change - all of these scenes were actually redubbed, with our hefty heroes' voices being deeper and slower with a low energy in the delivery, most promininently displayed when them leaving the sauna. Essentially this redub retcons them into sounding more in line with their looks, which makes sense given how full and round their faces were and the difficulty they had in moving in those first tender moments, making the globe-shaped girth gained feel more all-consuming.
So...why am I making a post on this, then? Well, after the water chugging, Hat and Spin's friend Hot immediately makes up an entire what-if scenario where they never slimmed back to normal. This is where we get totally new stuff both audibly and visually.
The first thing we see is Hat and Spin in a funk from still being fat, with Hat being prominent at the front while Spin's side and back is shown, his body slumping a little as he sighs. One thing to note is that they're depicted in a less perfectly spherical manner than in actuality, instead having a more realistic take with their chests being shown - for Hat, it's outlined against his shirt, while for Spin there's a dip in her torso to show the distinction between breast and belly. Due to the differences in height shown here, plus Spin's chest prior to gaining weight, it's clear that Spin has a much larger and rounder chest compared to Hat's naturally fat-induced one. (Pics 1-2)
Next, Hot declares that the doughy duo decided to become superheroes to put their girths to good use, becoming Snowman 1 (Hat) and Snowman 2 (Spin), their outfits being white balls with their numbers on the front and black stick-like limbs, with red and blue capes and makes giving them snowman faces, Hat's round with a big red nose and Spin's thin with a small red nose. Their numbered names are a reference to the heroes from the original Kamen Rider show from 1971 (which I'd happened to finish watching some weeks before I came across this episode), Kamen Rider 1 and 2. (Pic 3) The pair are then seen heroically on top of a building looking for crime. (Pic 4)
However, we then see the big round problem they faced while trying to deal with a dark-clothed villain...they're so spherical they were rolled around and left useless, with Hat positioned on his side, lying under the villain's foot while Spin just spins around like a pinball (or Spinball, being the Sonic fan that I am), going right to left and back again, covering the screen as she does so, letting us see the panic and helplessness on their faces. It's a cute fun bit that helps show off their roundness in a fun way, and it's the most movement we get in this new content. (Pics 5-9)
After being swollen superheroes didn't pan out, what's the next natural progression? Why, wrestlers csalled the Snowman Bros, of course! They don't have any snowman-related apparel on them this time around, showing how Hot is just making things up with little thought put into them. Keeping the same kind of head shapes as before, Hat and Spin are shown in the ring with the former bare-chested in dark pants while the latter is in a blue leotard that's light blue on top and dark put on the bottom with yellow boots. They're seen beating up foreign wrestlers, with Hat slapping one in the face while Spin sits on another and pulls him by the legs. Hat in this segment is less fully-round, slighlty more egg-shaped with the division clearly around his chest, while Spin's totally spherical. The animation here is much more limited, owing to the simple idea and the quickness of the gag. (Pics 10-12)
So they've been normal, superheroes and wrestlers. Hot brings us to the natural ultimate endpoint to this career progression - politicians! Our hefty heroes are only shown in this one shot, clad in business suits, dark blue for Hat and light blue for Spin, their faces now returned to their natural designs and style, chins protruding against truly massive cheeks, looking smug and successful as our titular Hat smokes from a big cigar as Spin wraps a thick arm around him. (Pic 13) This final bit is what causes Hat and Spin to call out Hot for making all of this up and proceed to chase him around in anger.
